Turkish court issues arrest warrant for HDP spokesperson

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey – A Turkish court has issued an arrest warrant for the spokesperson of the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP) Osman Baydemir on Thursday after he failed to attend a court hearing.

 

The warrant was issued after Baydemir failed to attend a hearing of a court in Urfa, southeast Turkey, on charges related to terrorist propaganda stemming from a Newroz, Kurdish new year, event.

 

His lawyer requested the court postpone the session instead of issuing the warrant so that Baydemir could appear before the court and defend himself.

 

The Fifth Heavy Penal Court in Urfa refused the request and ordered security forces to bring the HDP spokesperson to court to give his testimony before the prosecutor.

 

The same court postponed a hearing for another HDP MP, Dilek Ocalan, until March 2018. She is the niece of the imprisoned leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), Abdullah Ocalan. 

 

Turkish authorities have arrested tens of HDP members in the past year. While many have been released after brief periods of detention, some remain in prison one year on, including the party’s two co-chairs, one of whom stepped down from her position after losing her MP status because of her detention.

 

Baydemir, MP for Urfa, was briefly detained in June 2017 on charges of insulting public servants and failing to attend two court hearings.

 

HDP is a pro-Kurdish party that first entered the Turkish parliament in June 2015 after it secured about 13 percent of the vote, three percent higher than the electoral threshold. The party lost 31 seats after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called a snap election when his ruling AKP failed to form the government.

 

HDP, the second-largest opposition party in Turkey, opposed constitutional amendments that were approved by referendum in April 2017 and shifted the country's parliamentary system to an executive presidency.